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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26346232">tear the string holding us together</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/amybri2002/pseuds/amybri2002'>amybri2002</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>soulmate september [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Sanders Sides (Web Series)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Human AU, Internalised Homophobia, M/M, Soulmate AU, being kicked out, patton is so incredibly repressed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 04:07:11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,579</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26346232</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/amybri2002/pseuds/amybri2002</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Roman has been excited all his life to meet his soulmate, but when he finally does and his soulmate claims they can’t be soulmates, what is he supposed to do?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>soulmate september [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1905379</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>98</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>tear the string holding us together</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>h a i did it!!!! ngl this was hard for me to write and idk how i feel about it b u t it’s here on time and i hope y’all enjoy!!! </p><p>prompt: there is a string tied around your pinky that only you can see, the end of it leads to your soulmate.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Roman felt a tug at his pinky, and his eyes widened. Was this finally it? The moment he'd get to meet his soulmate?</p><p>He had been sat in a coffee shop, staring out the window at everyone walking along the street, occasionally jotting down a few words in his notebook and sipping on his tea. Looking up from his spot, he noticed that his string was still leading out the door, but it had since changed directions from the way he had come in, meaning...</p><p>His soulmate must have walked past. And he hadn't even realised. How could he have missed that?</p><p>Well, he wasn't going to let go of this opportunity now. He quickly gulped down the last of his tea, then packed away his things, before standing up and leaving the coffee shop, sending a quick wave and, "Thanks!" to the barista as he went. He then followed the red string down the road, through the city. Christ, his soulmate must have been moving fast, to get away from the coffee shop so quickly.</p><p>Surely his soulmate must have seen him in the window, right? So why had he run? Perhaps he'd just been nervous - meeting your soulmate for the first time could be scary, he supposed, as people may be unsure as to whether they would get along, or...</p><p>Actually, no, in all honestly, Roman couldn't understand why anyone would be afraid to meet their soulmate. This was soulmates he was talking about! The perfect match, the perfect person, people should be excited to meet them! Roman certainly was, at the very least. He'd been waiting for this moment his entire life - well, seventeen years wasn't that long, most people met their soulmates much, much later in life, but still. There was no way he was about to give up.</p><p>He turned the corner and there he was, just down the road. A little shorter than Roman, wearing a blue shirt and khaki shorts. Roman couldn't see his face, but his hair looked soft, and he desperately wanted to run his fingers through it, but he held back, instead approaching his soulmate slowly.</p><p>"Hello!" he greeted, enthusiastically. "I believe we-"</p><p>His soulmate turned around, and shook his head. "No. We're not soulmates."</p><p>Roman blinked in shock, lost for words for a moment. "I, uh- I think this string around our fingers would beg to differ," he said, holding up his pinky to demonstrate.</p><p>His soulmate just shook his head again. "No, no. There must be some kind of mistake. We can't be soulmates."</p><p>"But-"</p><p>"Sorry."</p><p>He ran off, leaving Roman alone on the street. He breathed in and out, trying to make sense of what had just happened.</p><p>~*~</p><p>The next time Roman saw his soulmate was a couple weeks later, in a public library. He hadn't attempted to follow the string again, figuring that perhaps his soulmate - he definitely was his soulmate, no matter what he said - just needed some time to think. Which was fine - running straight into a romance like that was never a particularly good idea, and not everyone was even ready for that.</p><p>So Roman was surprised when his soulmate followed the string himself, and sat down next to Roman in the library. He seemed nervous, staring at the table, a little uncomfortable, as if he felt like he shouldn’t be there. Roman couldn’t quite imagine why, as this was a public place, and Roman was his actual soulmate.</p><p>“Can I help you?” Roman asked, glancing down at his soulmate.</p><p>He just shook his head. “No. I just... I needed to go for a walk, and found myself following the string.”</p><p>“Oh.” Roman frowned, then shrugged, turning back to his work. Schoolwork that needed to be in soon, that he’d never get done at home. Not that he’d particularly done much work anyway.</p><p>His soulmate breathed in. “Do you think we could cut the string?”</p><p>Roman froze, grip tightening around his pencil, almost snapping it in two. “Why?”</p><p>“Well...” He closed his eyes. “Obviously, we can’t be soulmates, because we’re both guys, and it’s not supposed to work that way, so the universe must have made a mistake. So I thought if we cut the string, maybe we’d both get a new soulmate that makes sense, and then we can both be happy, right?”</p><p>Roman was almost at a loss for words. What on Earth was this guy talking about. “I’d be happy with you, though.”</p><p>His soulmate shook his head. “No, you wouldn’t.”</p><p>There was silence, for a long time, and Roman was half tempted to just get up and walk away. So his soulmate was a homophobe, or just someone incredibly, incredibly repressed - that was fine, they could work around it. In time he’d realise, right? Unless...</p><p>“Just think about it,” his soulmate pleaded.</p><p>“There’s nothing wrong with us being soulmates, you know,” Roman said, turning around to face him. “Plenty of people of the same gender date each other. I, myself, am homosexual. I like men. They’re pretty. You’re pretty.”</p><p>“I mean, you’re pretty too, I guess,” his soulmate said, and for a moment Roman got his hopes up, before they were immediately crushed again, as he continued, “but I could never date a guy. I’m sorry.”</p><p>Roman wanted to argue more, but instead just took a deep breath in, and out, and smiled. “Y’know what? That’s okay. I’ll just...” He didn’t know what he’d do. He’d been waiting for his soulmate for so, so long, and then he shows up and...</p><p>“We can keep in contact, if you want,” his soulmate offered, “I’d like to be your friend, anyway.”</p><p>Roman considered this for a moment, before sighing. “Okay. Fine.” He handed over his phone for his soulmate to put in the details, before saying his goodbyes and leaving. He could continue searching for love, he...</p><p>This really wasn’t going as planned.</p><p>~*~</p><p>It was another month before Roman talked properly to his soulmate again, when he rang in the dead of night, barely able to talk as though he was... crying.</p><p>Roman had since learnt that his soulmate’s name was Patton, and that he went to the same school but shared none of the same classes. Other than that, they hadn’t spoken all that much. Patton seemed distant, quiet, or maybe he was just like that. Roman decided not to bother so much - no point in trying to get a straight guy to fall for him, when that would only ever end in heartbreak. Even if the universe thought they were destined to be together. The universe wasn’t always right, was it?</p><p>Still, when Patton called Roman just past midnight, sounding like he’d been crying for at least the past half an hour, he couldn’t help but be concerned. “Patton, are you okay? Do you need me to come to you?”</p><p>There was silence on the other end for a moment, asides from a quiet sniffling, before Patton quietly said, “Yes. Please.”</p><p>Roman quickly jumped out of bed and got changed back into his day clothes, before quickly leaving the house, careful not to disturb his sleeping parents, and followed the red string through the night. Eventually, he found himself in a small park, with Patton sat on a bench, hugging his legs. Frowning, Roman went and sat down next to him, half tempted to wrap an arm around his shoulder and hug him tight.</p><p>“What happened?” Roman asked.</p><p>Patton sniffled again, wiping his eyes and staring at the floor. “I told my parents about you.” </p><p>Roman blinked. “...and?”</p><p>“And they kicked me out.”</p><p>Oh. Okay, yeah, Roman couldn’t stop himself from hugging Patton. Patton didn’t seem to care, even leaning into the hug a bit.</p><p>“I think... the universe is right,” Patton continued, after a few moments. He sounded a little more coherent, and had stopped crying, but still seemed upset. “I do like guys. But... But I can’t, my parents-“</p><p>“-aren’t worth your time if they think like that,” Roman interrupted. Patton looked up at him, his eyes red and puffy, though shining a little in the moonlight. “You can’t choose who you like. I... don’t even care if you like me or not, but if you do like guys and your family don’t support that, then they aren’t your real family. They should love you for who you are, not punish you for things you can’t change.”</p><p>Patton breathed in and out, then leant even further into Roman’s chest. “Where am I meant to go?”</p><p>“You can come with me,” Roman offered. “I can keep you safe.”</p><p>“...yeah?”</p><p>“Yeah. Your my soulmate, I’m not going to abandon you in the street.”</p><p>“...okay. Thank you.”</p><p>Roman squeezed his shoulder, and Patton let out a small smile. “You’re a good person, okay? And your experiences are valid. Don’t let anyone tell you definitely.”</p><p>“I won’t,” Patton promised.</p><p>“Good.”</p><p>Silence again, until Patton said, “I think a relationship might be nice with you. If you’re... willing to give it a go.”</p><p>Roman smiled. “Of course I am.” He looked up at the moon for a moment, a full moon, then back down at Patton, who he noticed had followed his gaze to the sky. “Let’s get you safe, okay?”</p><p>Patton nodded. “Okay.” He wiped his eyes again and stood up, Roman quickly following. And the two walked back to Roman’s home, their string twisted around their interlocked fingers, and Patton seemed to be the happiest Roman had ever seen.</p>
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